Results of Elections of Justices to the Minnesota Supreme Court 1857 – 2016 ______
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RESULTS OF ELECTIONS OF JUSTICES TO THE MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT 1857 – 2016 ______ COMPILED BY DOUGLAS A. HEDIN 1. The Election Code The Minnesota Constitution, ratified by voters on October 13, 1857, imposed conditions on state judges that were far more restrictive than the standard for federal judges set by Article III, §1, of the U. S. Constitution. Rather than serve “during good behavior,” equivalent to “lifetime” employ- ment, judges on the state supreme court and lower courts were elected to short terms. Article 6, §3, provided: The judges of the supreme court shall be elected by the electors of the state at large, and their terms of office shall be seven years and until their successors are elected and qualified. The inclusion of a requirement of an elected judiciary in the 1857 constitution, besides being a reaction against the policy of presidential appointments to the court during the territorial period, 1 reflected the prevailing belief in the wisdom of the people; popularly-elected judges, it was supposed, would protect the rights and interests of the people; and a wayward judge could be checked at the next election. 2 Each judicial election since 1857 has been conducted according to an election code, which the legislature has amended, revised, reformed, and transformed many times. Unlike contests for executive and legislative 1 For the politics behind the selection of each of the eleven justices to the territorial supreme court, see my article, “‘Rotation in Office’ and the Territorial Supreme Court, 1849-1857” (MLHP, 2010). 2 Minnesota was not alone in requiring the election of its judiciary. For articles on the rise of popular elections for the judiciary in other states in the 1840s and 1850s, see Jed Handelsman Shugerman, “Economic Crisis and the Rise of Judicial Elections and Judicial Review,” 123 Harv. L. Rev. 1061 (2010), and Kermit L. Hall, “The Judiciary on Trial: State Constitutional Reform and the Rise of an Elected Judiciary, 1846-1860,” 45 The Historian 337 (1983). 1 offices, the results of many judicial elections ―and thus the composition of the court ―have been hugely influenced by the election laws themselves. 3 From 1858 to 1881, the supreme court of Minnesota consisted of a chief justice and two associate justices who were elected to seven year terms. In 1881, to assist the court in handling its heavy workload, the legislature increased the number of associate justices to four.4 In the election on November 6, 1883, voters approved several amendments to the state constitution which affected judicial elections. The terms of all judges were reduced from seven years to six. 5 And future elections were to be held biennially in even numbered years. The last judicial election in an odd- numbered year was held in 1881. The election that year was also the first in which an incumbent was defeated, and it began a period of turmoil on the court that peaked in the seven elections from 1892 to 1910, and subsided in 1912, although, ironically, the election that year was the most tumultuous in the court’s history. The greatest cause of upheaval was the increasing involvement of political parties in the candidate-selection process. Partisanship reached its apo- gee from 1892 through 1910, when party designations were posted next to candidates’ names on the ballots.6 This may be called the “party designation period” of judicial elections. The fates of judicial candidates, incumbents and challengers alike, depended on the popularity of the political party or parties that endorsed them, resulting in high turnover on the court. In the seven elections from 1892 through 1910, seven incumbents were deposed. The Republican Party was ascendant during most of these years and its endorsement was critical to a candidate’s success. Five of the seven incumbents who were defeated did not receive 3 For confirmation of this conclusion, see Jesse Sater, “The History of Minnesota’s Judicial Elections: A Description and Analysis of the Changes in Judicial Election Laws and Their Effect on the Competitiveness of Minnesota’s Judicial Elections,” 10 University of St. Thomas Law Journal 367 (2012). This fine article is available online: http://ir.stthomas.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1305&context=ustlj 4 1881 Laws, ch. 141, 184 (“The Supreme Court shall consist of one (1) Chief Justice and four (4) Associate Justices.”). It was effective March 7, 1881. 5 Today Article VI, §7, provides: The term of office of all judges shall be six years and until their successors are qualified. They shall be elected by the voters from the area which they are to serve in the manner provided by law. 6 In 1894, “the party designation or politics of the candidate” followed his name on the ballot. 1894 Laws, ch. 1, §30, 7-8. Occasionally a political party endorsed a candidate but did not nominate him. In 1894, for example, the Republican Party nominated Charles Start for chief justice and Lorin W. Collins for associate justice. The Democrats nominated Seagrave Smith for chief justice and endorsed John W. Willis for associate justice. The People’s Party nominated John Willis, while the Prohibition Party did not nominate or endorse a candidate. 1895 Blue Book at 379. 2 the nomination of the Republican Party. The populist uprising in 1892 sank two Republican-endorsed incumbents. In 1912, at the height of the Progressive Era, the legislature enacted two major reforms of the election code that transformed judicial contests and remain in use today. First, judicial candidates were listed on the ballot without party designation.7 Second, the primary election for judicial candidates was inaugurated.8 The elimination of party designations for judicial candidates and the enactment of the primary system in 1912 reflected the Progressives’ goal of “direct democracy.” 9 They thought that open primaries would dethrone the old party nominating convention system, which was dominated by political machines, and restore power to the people. 10 Under the previous system, employed from 1857 to 1910, candidates ran in the general election against a field for seats on the court. In these elections, voters were instructed to “vote for one” or “vote for two” or more, the number corresponding to the number to be elected. 11 Candidates 7 1912 Laws, Ex. Sess. Ch. 12, §1, effective June 19, 1912, provided: Designation of candidates nominated on non-partisan primary election ballot and those nominated by petition.— Section 1. After the name of each candidate on the general election ballot nominated on the non-partisan ballot at the primary election shall he placed the words “nominated at primary election non-partisan.” After the name of each candidate nominated by petition shall be placed the words “nominated by petition,” and such other designation as may be now permitted by law, except that the words “non-partisan” shall not be placed after or to designate any candidate not dully nominated at a primary election on the non-partisan ballot. 8 The politics behind the special session in 1912 when these laws were enacted is described by Carl Chrislock in The Progressive Era in Minnesota, 1899-1918 48-9 (Minn. Hist. Soc., 1971); see also William Watts Folwell, IV A History of Minnesota 365-74 (Minn. Hist. Soc., 1956) (published first, 1921). For the pre-1912 development of primary elections in the state, see Clarence J. Hein, “The Adoption of Minnesota’s Direct Primary Law,” 35 Minnesota History 341 (December 1957). 9 See generally, Thomas Goebel, A Government by the People: Direct Democracy in America, 1890-1940 (Univ. of N. C. Press, 2002). 10 Chrislock, supra note 8, at 48-9, 84. A biographer of Robert M. LaFollette, a prominent progressive, described his embrace of the primary: [M]ost insurgents believed that corporations could not dominate local politics if candidates were chosen directly by the voters. LaFollette reasoned further that the machine could never beat him again if the state adopted the direct primary. Sounding the insurgent note, La Follette cried: “Go back to the first principles of democracy; go back to the people.” David P. Thelen, Robert LaFollette and the Insurgent Spirit 27 (Little Brown and Co, 1976). 11 1894 Stat. ch. 1, §30, 7-8. 3 who received a plurality of the votes won. 12 For these reasons they are called “top two” or “top three” elections. The primary law changed this by winnowing the field to two or more finalists (depending on the number of seats at stake), who then stood in the general election (although there were three candidates in the unusual election for chief justice in 1912). The field system remained intact but the field itself was reduced to two candidates for each seat. Never again would there be a general election like that in 1898, when nine candidates vied for three seats. In 1913, the legislature approved the appointment by the governor of two commissioners, who had the same responsibilities as elected justices.13 Commissioners served on the court from 1913 to 1930, when the membership of the court was enlarged from five to seven, and the office of commissioner eliminated. Not surprisingly, the last two Commissioners, Ingerval Olsen and Charles Loring, were appointed associate justices by the governor. The next legislative major overhaul of the laws governing judicial elections occurred in 1949, when the “alley system” was adopted. Under it, each justice is deemed to hold a separate office, and challengers are required to specify the particular justice whose seat they are seeking. 14 The field 12 1858 Laws, Sp. Sess., ch. 2, §5, 8, provided: All elections by the people shall be by ballot, and each ballot shall contain all the names of the persons voted with a proper designation of the office written or printed thereon, and a plurality of votes shall constitute an election.